Dennis Pillion
@dennispillion.bsky.social
Alabama reporter for Inside Climate News. Previously at AL.com. Also previously well rested.
In 1999, I saw a local pop-punk band in Birmingham that changed my life. Here's my tribute to them after their final show, 27 years later. dennispillion.substack.com/p/life-witho...
A farewell to Pain, Alabama's late-90s pop-punk sensation
Pain - my favorite pop-punk, ska-adjacent band from Tuscaloosa - reunited as Salvo 20 years after breaking up.
dennispillion.substack.com
"Trump Lashes Out at National Academies of Sciences Over Climate Guide For Judges" by @dennispillion.bsky.social for @insideclimatenews.org: insideclimatenews.org/news/2007202...
Trump Lashes Out at National Academies of Sciences Over Climate Guide For Judges - Inside Climate News
Trump claimed without evidence that the manual was “fraudulent, biased, and misleading.”
insideclimatenews.org
Trump's EPA wants to approve the same Alabama coal ash program the agency rejected under Biden. The move could leave 117 million tons of ash slurry covered in place along Alabama rivers indefinitely. insideclimatenews.org/news/1407202...
Trump EPA Moves to Approve Alabama Coal Ash Program Rejected by Biden Administration - Inside Climate News
This proposal could allow Alabama Power and other utilities’ coal ash ponds to remain saturated in groundwater indefinitely.
insideclimatenews.org
The Birmingham Northern Beltline is now expected to cost $6.19 billion and result in the destruction of large swaths of forest and wetland. Critics say the road is too expensive, too environmentally destructive and not needed. insideclimatenews.org/news/2506202...
Alabama Seeks Permit to Fill Wetlands, Streams for Controversial Highway Project - Inside Climate News
The state now estimates that the Birmingham Northern Beltline project will cost $6.19 billion.
insideclimatenews.org
Alabama has never had a Black Public Service Commissioner. That’s about to change. insideclimatenews.org/news/1706202...
Alabama Governor Names Four New PSC Members, Including Its First Two Black Appointees - Inside Climate News
Gov. Kay Ivey announced the appointments as a first step under new legislation expanding the state’s utilities regulator from three to seven seats in 2027.
insideclimatenews.org
A Massive Volunteer Network in Florida Works to Save Endangered Sea Turtles insideclimatenews.org/news/1306202...
A Massive Volunteer Network in Florida Works to Save Endangered Sea Turtles - Inside Climate News
Bowser, a 172-pound loggerhead sea turtle, was rescued from the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier Sunday. The operation was one of a growing number of rescues in areas where sea turtles and humans overlap.
insideclimatenews.org
The TVA has been handing out a booklet about coal ash that seriously downplays the human health risks of exposure. Researchers I talked to said the booklet was “deceptive,” “misleading,” and “plain wrong.” insideclimatenews.org/news/1505202...
The Tennessee Valley Authority Produced a Booklet Downplaying Coal Ash Risks. Top Researchers Call it ‘Dishonest.’ - Inside Climate News
A 35-page booklet distributed in a public meeting by the Tennessee Valley Authority about coal ash is filled with “lies” and misleading information, according to coal ash researchers. The booklet, t...
insideclimatenews.org
The Alabama Legislature seems determined to pass… something to address rising electricity costs. But what will they pass and will it work? Here are some of the options being considered. insideclimatenews.org/news/1203202...
Alabama Poised to Drastically Overhaul Utility Regulation. Will It Lower Electric Bills? - Inside Climate News
The Alabama Senate unanimously voted to expand the public service commission, and create a Secretary of Energy to address rising electricity prices. A bill in the House would go even further, requirin...
insideclimatenews.org
Inject this straight into my veins. Great article, @dennispillion.bsky.social
Dennis Pillion@dennispillion.bsky.social · 6mo agoNew from me: The EPA excluded a controversial climate report from its rule repealing the endangerment finding yesterday after widespread scientific criticism and a judge's ruling that the panel that made the report had been commissioned illegally. insideclimatenews.org/news/1302202...
New from me: The EPA excluded a controversial climate report from its rule repealing the endangerment finding yesterday after widespread scientific criticism and a judge's ruling that the panel that made the report had been commissioned illegally. insideclimatenews.org/news/1302202...
Trump Administration Dropped Controversial Climate Report From Its Decision to Rescind EPA Endangerment Finding - Inside Climate News
The final EPA rule explicitly omitted the report commissioned last year to justify revoking the endangerment finding, citing “concerns raised by some commenters.”
insideclimatenews.org
New from me: Alabama’s civil rights history is inescapable, even in places most people wouldn’t expect. Their electric bills, for example. insideclimatenews.org/news/2612202...
How George Wallace and Bull Connor Set the Stage for Alabama’s Sky-High Electric Rates - Inside Climate News
After his notorious stand in the schoolhouse door, Wallace needed a new target. He found it in Alabama Power.
insideclimatenews.org
This deep look at the consumer unfriendly actions of Alabama Power is very much worth your time. Great work from my colleagues @dennispillion.bsky.social and @leehedgepeth.bsky.social: insideclimatenews.org/news/0311202...
How Alabama Power Kept Bills Up and Opposition Out to Become One of the Most Powerful Utilities in the Country - Inside Climate News
In one of the poorest states in America, the local utility earns massive profits producing dirty energy with almost no pushback from state regulators.
insideclimatenews.org
My latest for @insideclimatenews.org goes inside one of the most biodiverse and ecologically important places in Alabama -- the newly dedicated E.O. Wilson Land Between the Rivers Preserve. insideclimatenews.org/news/1910202...
Alabama’s E.O. Wilson Land Between the Rivers Preserve Is a ‘Place That Time Forgot’ - Inside Climate News
Dubbed the father of biodiversity, the pioneering author and scientist E.O. Wilson spent his early years exploring the swamps and wetlands of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta. Now, 8,000 acres of that land wil...
insideclimatenews.org
New from me: Wilsonville (Ala.) residents hope to shut down a huge proposed data center in their small town on the Coosa River. insideclimatenews.org/news/2008202...
Alabama Town’s Residents Seek Preemptive Strike Against Massive Data Center Project - Inside Climate News
“That’s going to be their legacy, to potentially destroy a small town,” said one resident of the landowner and developers of a proposed hyperscale data center.
insideclimatenews.org
Alabama Power Gets Approval to Buy $622 Million Natural Gas Plant, Expecting More Data Centers insideclimatenews.org/news/0508202...
Alabama Power Gets Approval to Buy $622 Million Natural Gas Plant, Expecting More Data Centers - Inside Climate News
In the past five years, Alabama Power has added around 3,400 MW of natural gas generation to its fleet of more than 14,000 MW.
insideclimatenews.org
Climate scientists @michaelemann.bsky.social, @andrewdessler.com and others respond to this week's DOE climate report, which they called 'antiscientific,' 'deceptive,' and 'cherry-picked.' insideclimatenews.org/news/3007202...
Climate Scientists Look to Fight Back Against DOE’s ‘Antiscientific,’ ‘Deceptive’ Climate Report - Inside Climate News
Climate scientist Michael Mann called the report “a deeply misleading antiscientific narrative, built on deceptive arguments, misrepresented datasets, and distortion of actual scientific understanding...
insideclimatenews.org
Climate Scientists Look to Fight Back Against DOE’s ‘Antiscientific,’ ‘Deceptive’ Climate Report insideclimatenews.org/news/3007202...
Climate Scientists Look to Fight Back Against DOE’s ‘Antiscientific,’ ‘Deceptive’ Climate Report - Inside Climate News
Climate scientist Michael Mann called the report “a deeply misleading antiscientific narrative, built on deceptive arguments, misrepresented datasets, and distortion of actual scientific understanding...
insideclimatenews.org
Capped Alabama Coal Ash Pond Still Polluting Groundwater 7 Years After Closure, Lawsuit Claims insideclimatenews.org/news/2907202...
Capped Alabama Coal Ash Pond Still Polluting Groundwater 7 Years After Closure, Lawsuit Claims - Inside Climate News
Coosa Riverkeeper filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Alabama Power, alleging significant groundwater pollution violations from the utility’s Gadsden coal ash pond that has been capped in place since 2018...
insideclimatenews.org
My colleague @dennispillion.bsky.social and I were the first reporters to sit down at length with Cynthia Almond, the new president of the Public Service Commission. The image she projects is much different than that of her predecessor, Twinkle Cavanaugh: insideclimatenews.org/news/2107202...
New Alabama PSC President Cynthia Almond has won praise from both sides of the aisle, and projects a very different image from her predecessor Twinkle Cavanaugh. @leehedgepeth.bsky.social and I sat down with Almond in her first interview in her new post. insideclimatenews.org/news/2107202...
Alabama’s New Utility Commission President Wants to Hear From ‘All Sides’ as She Assumes New Role - Inside Climate News
Cynthia Lee Almond spent four years in the Alabama Legislature and 16 years on the Tuscaloosa City Council before being appointed president of the state’s Public Service Commission.
insideclimatenews.org
Via @dennispillion.bsky.social and @insideclimatenews.org: Alabama environmental regulators have agreed to update standards used to limit the amounts of 12 toxic and carcinogenic substances in the state’s waterways.
Alabama environmental groups secure rare win in fight to update water toxicity standards | Alabama Reflector
The decision was a rare win for environmental groups operating in the deep-red state, from a board that rarely votes against the department’s recommendations.
alabamareflector.com
One of the biggest frustrations I have is the lack of transparency around AI's energy use and environmental impacts. I know the numbers are out there... but somehow we're not seeing them 🫠 Thank you @wired.com for covering this topic in such depth and detail ! www.wired.com/story/ai-car...
How Much Energy Does AI Use? The People Who Know Aren’t Saying
A growing body of research attempts to put a number on energy use and AI—even as the companies behind the most popular models keep their carbon emissions a secret.
wired.com
Canceled Climate Grants Would Have Cut Pollution While Boosting Production, Jobs at Two Alabama Ironworks insideclimatenews.org/news/0606202...
Canceled Climate Grants Would Have Cut Pollution While Boosting Production, Jobs at Two Alabama Ironworks - Inside Climate News
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Two iron pipe manufacturers in Alabama learned last week they lost a combined $150 million in promised federal funding that would have increased productivity and employment while slas...
insideclimatenews.org
Via @leehedgepeth.bsky.social & @dennispillion.bsky.social: Coosa Riverkeeper has filed a notice of intent to sue Alabama Power over groundwater pollution from a coal ash pond near the old Gadsden Steam Plant site, based on groundwater testing results Alabama Power must post twice per year.
Alabama Power threatened with lawsuit for contaminating groundwater with coal ash | Alabama Reflector
Coosa Riverkeeper has filed a formal notice of intent to sue Alabama Power over the groundwater pollution from a pond near the site of the Gadsden Steam Plant.
alabamareflector.com
Without Pope Francis, “the world is a little lonelier and more unjust.” insideclimatenews.org/news/2104202...
‘The Earth Loses a Defender’: Pope Francis Fought for the Poor and the Planet - Inside Climate News
A leader on climate action, Francis will be remembered as an ally to Indigenous, poor and working people.
insideclimatenews.org
In 2023, Biden promised to fix sewage woes that have plagued Alabama's Black Belt for decades. Today, the Trump administration 'terminated' the agreement that was supposed to do that. insideclimatenews.org/news/1104202...
Trump Announces ‘Termination’ of ‘Illegal DEI’ Settlement Over Raw Sewage in Poor, Majority-Black Alabama Communities - Inside Climate News
The Trump administration announced Friday that it was terminating a historic settlement aimed at improving wastewater treatment services for Alabamians in majority-Black communities harmed by raw sewa...
insideclimatenews.org
Via @dennispillion.bsky.social and @insideclimatenews.org: Any weather forecast made available via broadcast news, a commercial app or other media is almost certainly derived from data and model computations made by the National Weather Service using weather balloons.
NOAA cuts weather balloon launches due to staff shortages after DOGE layoffs • Alabama Reflector
Weather forecasts in media are almost certainly derived from data and model computations made by the National Weather Service using weather balloons.
alabamareflector.com
Some of the world's oldest weather and climate knowledge comes from weather balloons. This is another egregious attack on science, IMO ... Great reporting by @dennispillion.bsky.social
NOAA Cuts Weather Balloon Launches Due to Staff Shortages After DOGE Layoffs - Inside Climate News
The president-elect of the American Meteorological Society compares the situation to bolts in a steel office building, warning: “Nobody can say how many bolts you can leave out or remove before the st...
insideclimatenews.org
“I think they need a publicist." Alabama's most famous meteorologist James Spann @spann.bsky.social on the National Weather Service's importance to local forecasting and severe weather preparedness. insideclimatenews.org/news/1803202...
Alabama’s Celebrity Weatherman Pleads for the National Weather Service - Inside Climate News
Meteorologist James Spann appeals to his 1.3 million Facebook followers to support the agency, threatened by Trump cuts, that produces the data he relies upon for his forecasts.
insideclimatenews.org
From Birmingham to San Francisco, Raleigh to New York, and even Vienna where EU scientists showed solidarity, @lizagross.bsky.social @dennispillion.bsky.social @bberwyn.bsky.social and @insideclimatenews.org colleagues captured Stand Up For Science! insideclimatenews.org/news/0703202...
Taking It to the Streets: Scientists Mobilize to Fight Trump’s ‘Unprecedented’ Anti-Science Agenda - Inside Climate News
Scientists turned out at rallies from coast to coast and in Europe to “Stand Up for Science,” revitalizing a movement to defend scientific integrity that started during Trump’s first term.
insideclimatenews.org